Hey all! This post is directed toward those who are potentially interested in assuming the reins of our Edmonton/North Alberta Guild.
This is our second oldest guild and there is a substantial LARPing population in this guild’s territory. This guild also comes with an active player base, all the characters in the existing database (over 500) and within range of two other guilds for visiting players. We’re going to follow the same process we normally do for applications because it worked well for us before. This time we’re removing the bidding system. Successful candidates will be given a copy of our current franchise agreement to review.
Since we aren’t there on the ground, we need to understand that whoever takes the reins is competent and understands how things work on an ownership level, not just a player level. We’ve put together 5 of the core values we look for in a potential Guildmaster. In your application we’d like you to touch on all of these plus anything else you think is important. This is your opportunity to show us you know how things run behind the scenes and gives examples, history and lessons learned through failure/success. Extra consideration goes to applicants who have been an active member of the community and currently do not run a fantasy LARP (or have plans to).
With the desired qualities we’ve included a few bullets as examples of the kind of mentality we’re looking for. Not everybody is cut to run a LARP of this caliber. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just a thing. We could write a book on each of the points so if you want more breakdown, just ask.
Five Qualities We’re Looking For in a Guildmaster (in no order of importance):
1) Sense of Long Game Balance
- Not selling items / power for money
- Not flooding your game with frags
- Acceptance of losing players if the action brings in more new players
- Getting along with other guilds, even if you are competing for players. One big failure we see often is the concept that guilds that compete are bad. Competition breeds excellence and you profit more from travelling players than you do from isolated players. Related: Getting along with Underworld Global. We might not agree and you have to sometimes accept you won’t always get your way.
2) Discretion
- Remembering your part of a management team of Underworld Global. You’re not a player anymore
- Recognizing that “passing the buck” to avoid looking bad to your playerbase hurts the game for everybody as a whole
- Remembering you have a direct line of communication with Global and can express your emotions or concerns through it rather than in public
3) Safety of your customers
- Recognizing you have a responsibility to foster a safe and positive game environment for your customers
- Removing / suspending / banning problem players at the expense of monetary loss
- Removing / suspending / banning problem players at the expense of friendships
4) Saying No
- The customer is not always right
- Understanding what players want and what players need are often different
5) Prioritizing New Players
- Veteran players are important but are not the main focus of a LARP. New players bring in friends, bring in new stories and content, and lower Average Player Level. Treat both veterans and new players equally but realize that it is the new players that give business continuity in almost any situation.
- A keen sense of marketing and advertising to draw in new players
If you’re interested please send us an email with notice of intent as soon as possible. Include your full name and the name of any partners. This is just so we know ahead of time whois in the running and we can start some background checks with folks we trust in the area. Full proposals should be in our inbox by August 1st, 2020. As a side note, we’re not keen on surprises. If you have something in your history or past that is going to work against you here, be honest with us. Despite the local rumour mill we have no favourites, and we have groomed nobody for this role. This is 100% anybody's game. Remember, please be respectful. This isn’t a chance to take pot shots at your enemies, former Guildmasters, or other players.
Once our application deadline has passed we will post a list of applicants and request private feedback from the playbase on each of the candidates to get a sense of how well they fit into the community.
Good luck!
All communication should be directed to comments@larp.ca
-UW Global